A week after sharing its ambitious augmented reality and virtual reality roadmap, Meta announced that its lowering prices for two of its Quest headsets.
Meta is cutting prices for its 256-gigabit Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro VR headsets.
The big tech company knocked the price down for the 256-gigabit Meta Quest 2 from $499.99 to $429.99. Everyone could have assumed that Meta would lower the price of its mixed-reality headset, Meta Quest Pro, but this significant knockdown says a lot about how the device may be selling. The Quest Pro now costs $999.99 after its initial price tag was $1,499.99. That’s a $500 difference or roughly the price of a PS5. The 128-gigabit Meta Quest 2 is still priced at $399.99.
Meta said in a news release that its goal “has always been to create hardware that’s affordable for as many people as possible to take advantage of all that VR has to offer,” but the tech industry is calling BS based on the Quest Pro price alone. The pricey mixed-reality headset costs more than any other gaming console on the market. The company said it lowered prices in an attempt to increase further adoption of its VR tech and offerings, but this reporter isn’t too convinced. If that was the case, why wasn’t reasonable pricing a part of the discussion before the Meta Quest Pro release last October?
The Quest price changes went into effect in the US on March 5 and will be fully integrated across all of Meta’s markets by March 15.
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The price drops come a week after Meta execs shared a roadmap for its virtual reality and augmented reality plans over the next for years. The roadmap came as part of an internal presentation to employees, but the Verge got the dish on all of Meta’s upcoming plans. The ambitious roadmap includes three new Quest headsets, a smartwatch, and smart glasses. Before launching its first fully AR-enabled glasses in 2027, Meta is letting its employees test them as soon as next year. The company is also developing a pair of smart glasses with a display.
The Meta Quest 3 is expected to launch with more than 40 new apps and games sometime later this year. The headset will cost a bit more than the Quest 2 and be hyperfocused on keeping users engaged.
During the presentation, Mark Rabkin, Meta’s VP of VR, told employees that Meta had sold nearly 20 million Quest headsets to date. Rabkin didn’t do a deeper breakdown of how each Quest device is selling.
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